Thai PM faces critics in no-confidence debate

AFP, June, 2008

BANGKOK (AFP) — Thailand's prime minister faces his critics in a no-confidence debate beginning Tuesday, as he defends his four-month-old government from claims of mismanagement and cronyism.

Samak Sundaravej took office after his People Power Party (PPP) comfortably won elections in December, ending more than a year of rule by royalist generals who overthrew premier Thaksin Shinawatra in 2006.

Samak had openly campaigned as an ally of Thaksin who would replicate his policies in rural areas, but his intimacy with the self-made tycoon despised by the elite and middle classes helped ignite the recent crisis.

The opposition Democrat Party claims Samak is running Thailand on behalf of Thaksin, who is banned from politics, while protesters camped outside...